[Quark]

Originally Posted by Captain Tom Coughlin

Where did he get all the parts to make a time machine out of a train in the first place?

That's what I'm saying. I mean, okay I understand that it runs on steam, but where did he get the parts to make the rocket boosters and the hover conversion? Just because he has been to the future, doesn't mean that he has the technology in the past.

[kevin]

It's a two part problem.

I think the bigger question is how he made a Flux Capacitor in the 1880s and beyond to turn a train into another time travel unit.

Once he has that, he can go to the future and get the hover conversion done on the train just like he did with the Delorean in the second film. In this sense, Doc doesn't do the hover conversion part himself. He gets it done in the future, where his line tells us he's 'already been'.

But Tom's question is more like it - how did he make the Flux Capacitor (or what alternative did he use).

Of course, a little like Star Trek - you aren't really meant to ask!

[Quark]

Originally Posted by kevin

It's a two part problem.

I think the bigger question is how he made a Flux Capacitor in the 1880s and beyond to turn a train into another time travel unit....

Exactly. That's the main question. I wonder if there is a novelization of the film that would probably better explain it.

[NCC-73515]

One thing they left behind in the 1880s is the part of the engine that falls out of the car when they try to start it with alcohol

With a DeLorean, anything's possible.
They should have used this in The Voyage Home...

"Marty, this is my latest experiment! I figured, if you wanna transport a whale to the future, why not do it with some style?"

[Quark]

Originally Posted by NCC-73515

One thing they left behind in the 1880s is the part of the engine that falls out of the car when they try to start it with alcohol

With a DeLorean, anything's possible.
They should have used this in The Voyage Home...

"Marty, this is my latest experiment! I figured, if you wanna transport a whale to the future, why not do it with some style?"

OH SNAP!!! THIS IS NUTS!!! I almost think it's a Photoshop rendition, but it's convincing enough for it not to be. Whoa...unreal!

[NCC-73515]

I had a similar reaction

[I-Am-Zim]

Dang! I hope they modified the engine in that thing! The old Pugeot V-6 in the original DeLorean was pretty puny. It'd have to have some serious power to move that thing!